Breyer Sold Wal-Mart Shares in Advance of Supreme Court Case

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen
Breyer sold between $15,000 and $50,000 in Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
shares last year in a move that has let him take part in a case
that may limit class-action lawsuits.

The sale, revealed today in Breyer’s annual financial
disclosure report, took place in January 2010, three months
before a federal appeals court ruled that Wal-Mart had to face a
gender-bias suit on behalf of potentially a million female
workers. The justices heard arguments in March on Wal-Mart’s
appeal of that decision and are scheduled to rule by the end of
June.

Breyer and his wife in recent years have sold shares in
more than a dozen companies so he can take part in additional
cases at the Supreme Court. Justices typically disqualify
themselves from cases involving companies in which they have a
financial interest.

Chief Justice John Roberts has also sold a number of his
individual stock holdings since joining the court in 2005.
According to his disclosure report, Roberts last year sold his
Pfizer Inc. stock, valued at $15,000 or less, eliminating a
holding that on several occasions prevented him from taking part
in Supreme Court cases.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in her disclosure report that
she received a $1,175,000 book advance from Knopf Doubleday
Publishing Group last year. Sotomayor, who grew up in a South
Bronx housing project in New York City, is writing a memoir that
will be published in both English and Spanish.